just remembered that one post about how hualian would be a super toxic relationship if it was literally about anyone else but hua cheng and xie lian and it got me thinking (nsfw after the cut):
hualian on its surface seems like a stereotypical bad boy hunk x innocent twink relationship but when you look beneath the surface it's not really that?? i mean it is but it also isn't at the same time.
because, y'know, there's the whole power dynamic of xie lian literally being hua cheng's god, and the literal reason he exists. but there's also the fact that hua cheng is pretty much the same thing for xie lian---he's figuratively his source of power (being his most devoted and oftentimes only believer, exchanging spiritual energy with him, etc) during the story, and literally so in the extras, if my memory serves me correctly.
they basically hold so much power over each other and yet are equals at the exact same time, and the specific way they showcase these dynamics wouldn't have worked if it wasn't a 800 year long slow burn between two immortals.
this equal-footing-but-also-not-really is shown---well, implied---in the extras, where xie lian is stated to have "spoiled" hua cheng in a way that has made him more likely to be mean to/bully xie lian when it comes to sex.
hua cheng is clearly supposed to be the more dominant partner in canon, but xie lian still holds power over him despite being submissive (not to say that irl subs don't hold any power; they very much do depending on how their relationship works).
xie lian, to me, seems to have corrupted hua cheng by spoiling him during sex, making it so that, while he himself is put into the submissive role, hua cheng is the one whose wrapped around his finger. hua cheng is only so mean to him because xie lian is into him. you can't tell me that hua cheng wouldn't immediately stop bullying xie lian the moment he complained about it in a serious manner.
on the other hand, hua cheng definitely wants to corrupt xie lian too, as shown by the fact that he wanted to fuck princelian in the amnesia extra (and probably later did exactly that). plus the whole having sex on xie lian's altar thing as well. and xie lian is clearly into it as well, considering that he lets hua cheng seemingly do as he pleases with him.
which is fascinating to me, because it shows how hualian subvert expectations with their relationship: the power dynamics between them are immensely fucked up, but they are so perfect for each other and literally have so much chemistry that any power imbalance is automatically wiped out and replaced with a healthy relationship.
tldr: i think that xie lian and hua cheng both have a corruption kink (as in, they both want to corrupt each other) and that their relationship is only strengthened by having kinky sex with each other.
i think my fav part of hualian's relationship is how both of them are thinking "i can fix him but do i really want to" whenever they set eyes upon each other
as a zelda fan and archaeology enjoyer, i'm a big fan of how a common trope in zelda games is "the ruins of an ancient technologically advanced civilization will help you in your journey to defeat evil but only if you explore them". however, there's gotta be a limit to that, right? cuz like, totk has like five of those, in one game! we got:
the anicent sheikah from 10000 years ago
the kingdom of hyrule 100 years ago
the zonai civilization of before hyrule's founding
the zonai/hyrulean civilization during the imprisoning war
the civilization that drew the geogylphs
like some of these could've just been combined, right?
so idk if it's intentional or not, but i noticed something really cool about creating a champion (the botw artbook). i have a copy of it and zelda art & artifacts (the overall series artbook) on my shelf, but only art & artifacts has gold lettering on it. creating a champion's lettering is a matte bronze/dusty color, which sorta looks like it should be gold but, up close, isn't.
since one of botw's main elements is the ruined/decayed master sword, it's seems like the specific color of the logo's font is a sort of faded gold to match that. which is super cool imo, since i believe that the logos/lettering for most zelda games are gold/have some sort of gold element to them.
like i said, idk if it's intentional on nintendo's part, but the fact that the logo for botw is so old-looking compared to the rest of the series is really good design in my book.
it is so difficult to write a really long smut scene without repeating yourself multiple times. there are only so many ways of describing getting dicked down that sound even remotely sexy and i think i've discovered all of them
